wow, 6 years later I cant believe this thread is still going. I've had a couple more of these over the years.
I have actually learned I'm more likely to get upgraded so we ALWAYS seat my wife in the better seat so if/when I get upgraded I can let her upgrade and I'm not stuck in the middle by myself.
We flew back from HNL a year or so ago and we didn't sit next to each other-- 12 hour flight and guess what-- everyone was ok.